Living in Time But Outside History, Living in Morality But Outside Ethics: Postmodernism and Elizabeth Deeds Ermarth

Abstract

Postmodernism has, with its radical scepticism and relativism, arguably undermined the last, certaintist tendencies of the Western Tradition, including those of history and ethics as expressed in the upper case - as History and Ethics. In this paper it is argued that in her brilliantly suggestive book, Sequel to History: Postmodernism and the Crisis of Representational Time, Elizabeth Deeds Ermarth successfully critiques modernist, linear histories through the use of her notion of rhythmic time, but unfortunately fails to embrace what the logic of her argument seems to be driving her towards, the deconstruction of Ethics. Taking my leave from Ermarth’s position, I argue that there is no need to be timid in this area, and that postmodernism signals both the ‘end of History as we have known it’ and Ethics, this opening up a discursive space not only to replace History with new modes of Ermarthian-type temporalities but also to accept a Derridean-type of morality (‘the madness of the decision’) in place of an Ethics no longer able to withstand the ‘happy solution’ of relativism.